Rep. Don Young Loses it in House Resources Committee Meeting (Video)
Apparently someone put something in Don Young’s oatmeal this week. OK, yes… he’s got something in his oatmeal every week, but this week he got an extra helping. Or perhaps he jus needs a bran muffin instead. Or perhaps the propeller beanie he wore to the Resources hearing a few days ago was a liiiitle too tight.
Whatever the reason, our “Congressman for All Alaska” was busily at his favorite hobby of seeing how many Alaskans he can get to put bags over their heads.
This time, his display came when speaking with Dr. Douglas Brinkley, an “ivory tower elite,” known to the rest of the world as an “educated person.”
Here’s the background.
Republicans in the House have a plan. They’d like to increase oil production and use some of the money to build and repair infrastructure projects. One of the places they’d like to increase production is on Alaska’s northern coastal plain, in an area known as ANWR – the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Democrats also have a plan. They’d like to roll back subsidies that the oil companies are now getting, and use that money to fund infrastructure projects. They argue that whatever the country would get from new development like ANWR would fall far short of what is necessary to make a real difference, and that the oil companies who are making money hand over fist can afford to chip in a lot more.
Let it be said that the vast majority of Alaskans are all for drilling ANWR – Republicans, Democrats, Independents, it doesn’t matter. So, Alaska’s congressional delegation in its various incarnations over the years has been fighting tooth and nail to get this done. Whoever manages to be the catalyst for drilling in ANWR can count themselves Senator or Congressman for life.
Many in the Lower 48 are opposed to this plan. ANWR has become the symbol of wilderness, the last spot on which the environmental movement will make their stand, stick their flag in the ground, and die on the principle that there are some wild places, remote and desolate or not, that we should just leave alone. So, how Alaska’s congressional delegation chooses to handle this touchy situation is critical. Is there any way to develop Alaska’s resources in this area, and somehow make it okay with environmentalists? Negotiations such as this are tricky, as you can imagine. Diplomacy, kid gloves, compromise, concession, and thinking outside the box will all be necessary to make everyone happy.
I’ve often wondered if there wasn’t some way to do it. For instance, oil drilling on the rest of Alaska’s north slope has certain benefits for Alaskans. Offshore drilling doesn’t. In that case we take all of the risk and get none of the reward except for some jobs that may or may not go to Alaskans. But onshore, a portion of the money made by the oil companies goes into Alaska’s Permanent Fund. This money is invested by clever, capable people, and the dividend is shared with all Alaskans. Every man, woman and child gets a check every year with which they may invest in their children’s future education, donate to charity, buy a plasma TV, take a trip, or stash it away for a rainy day.
Is there some way to take a healthy chunk of profits from drilling in ANWR (on shore) and put it towards a green energy permanent fund, where we can develop and implement some of the massive changes we’ll need to get ourselves off the petroleum-based dead end energy resource track we’re on? Is there a safe (surely safer than offshore drilling amid floating pack ice as Shell will soon be doing in the Arctic) way to tap that reserve fast, and get the hell out? Perhaps this kind of targeted green energy investment would speak to the environmental movement and Democrats in the House more than road projects would? What if we developed electric cars, or built wind farms, or explored the possibilities for tidal energy, geothermal, or solar…?
Fossil fuels are a finite resource whether we, or the oil companies, would like to believe it. So, how can we develop what we have now in a safe, directed and intentional way to save our hind quarters when all that is gone? There are many smart people, with many good ideas. Can’t we ratchet back subsidies like the Democrats want, AND develop certain places like the Republicans want? We’re innovative people. All it takes is someone from Alaska to explain, and propose forward-thinking solutions in a way that speaks to all people…
It takes someone like… not Don Young. He loves yelling at people who disagree with him, especially environmentalists whom he has referred to collectively as:
“… a self-centered bunch of waffle-stomping, Harvard-graduating, intellectual idiots” who “are not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be Americans.”
But this time, one of those waffle-stompers (a reference to the imprints left by hiking boots) actually yelled back, and the Congressman didn’t like it much. The man in question is Dr. Douglas Brinkley, a professor and historian from Rice University. He opposes drilling in the Refuge, and has written a book on the subject.
The congressman starts off optimistically:
Young: If you ever want to see an exercise in futility, it’s this hearing. That side’s already made up its mind. This side has already made up its mind. And the, I call it garbage Dr. Rice… It comes from a mouth…
Brinkley: It’s Dr. Brinkley. Rice is a university. I know you went to Yuba college and couldn’t graduate.
Young: I’ll call you anything when you sit in that chair! You understand? You just be quiet!
Brinkley: Why?
Young: You be quiet!
Brinkley: Why? You don’t own me.! I pay your salary. I work for the private sector, you work for the taxpayer.
Here we must pause to enjoy the exact moment that Don Young and the staffer behind him react to the “You don’t own me” line.
At this point, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the chairman of the committee reprimanded Brinkley and tried to gavel things back to order, telling him if he wanted to continue to be present he would follow the rules.
Young resumed, virtually spitting his words: “What I am suggesting, Mr. Brinkley. . .” And then went on for a few minutes, calling the prof an ivory-tower elite who doesn’t really know Alaska and describing the Arctic plain as a desolate, “nothing” kind of place that most Alaskans, he said, want to see drilled. The congressman also chided Brinkley for an earlier comment about Young’s absence from the room during his testimony — he was at a vote — and they kind of got into it again: “Don’t mention my name!” Young hissed.
So Brinkley didn’t. But he got his swipes in indirectly later in the hearing, contradicting statements from “the congressman who’s yet again left — doesn’t stay, blows smoke and then leaves.” That got a stronger reprimand from Hastings, who told the historian he was “disrespectful.”
A spokesman for Young later called the episode “a publicity stunt by Mr. Brinkley in order to sell books.” Witnesses, he said, “are invited to testify before Congress to answer questions and provide insight, not repeatedly interrupt.”
Brinkley was unapologetic when we reached him, calling Young “a crazy zealot for molesting the refuge” and saying he wished he “could have gone mano-a-mano” with him. “I was hoping for the chance to get into a heated debate with him, but, alas, it’s hard in that forum.”
Young: Now I have been all over that area.
Brinkley: I know you have.
Young: The Arctic plain is really nothing. You say it’s the heart, it’s not the heart.
Brinkley: I disagree with that.
Young: It’s part of the most deficit [sic] part of the area. And what hurts me the most, you sit there in the Rice University, when the people support drilling for their good and the good of the nation, as a college professor and ivory tower. You can go up there and camp and spend your time, and I hope you spent a lot of money. But the reality is this area should be drilled. I’ve been fighting this battle for 39 years.
Here is the video from CNN, clipped to the four minutes that were by far the most popcorn-worthy, and in which Don Young describes himself as “really pissed.”
Yes, we noticed.
Given this hearing was on C-Span for the world to see, I wish Dr. Brinkley would have kept his cool long enough for that old gasbag to have further embarrassed himself, and requested time to respond. Then, in a respectful manner, Dr. Brinkley could have blistered him with a cogent, thoughtful response in keeping with his status as a highly educated historian. Had he done so, Alaska’s representative would have shown the world what an uneducated, “bought & paid for” fool he really is.
The country will soon hear from Rep. Young that Alaska is seceding… just like Texas.
The look on the woman’s face behind Young is priceless! Loved watching her face in the video. 🙂
I ran into Don at the MSP airport in 2006 right after the election and a year after I moved to AK. We had some time to wait for our luggage so I decided to engage him in a discussion. I told him I voted for his opponent as I didn’t like the way he treated her during a debate (among a million other things). He said, “why should I treat her differently than anyone else?” I said, “yes, like the way you are treating me now. I had heard stories about you, but only now am I getting to experience you.” For many minutes we argued about things and he accused me of moving to AK for the dividend. He also said something to the effect that he bases his decisions on what God tells him to do. I tried not to roll my eyes as he said, “you don’t believe in God, do you.” I replied, “I have a hard time when someone says ‘God told me to do this’ and someone else says, ‘God told me to do this’ and they are opposite. Who is right?” Don was speechless for a moment.
We argued about global warming and he said, “it is good for the economy”. I pleaded with him to listen to the scientists and to take a leadership role as he was blaming this, that, and the other thing. I said, “look, you are a leader of this country and you need to get the facts and lead.”
During our whole exchange he kept pointing his finger at my chest and I did keep gently smacking him on the shoulder with the back of my hand. It is safe to say that many Alaskans were watching this exchange at baggage claim and people came up to me later to see if I was OK.
I was almost inspired to run against him the next election even tho’ I’m a nurse and have no interest in elected office!
Its time for Don to go Occupy that Bridge to Nowhere in the sky.
(not a death threat)
I wish Young had pulled his speech about buttf____ing out for that hearing. I guess he has to save it so he’ll have something to say to the schoolchildren. 🙂 I believe the only reason that drunk is still in there is the endless backstabbing among Democrats (Alaskan and national) about challenging him. The DCCC head basically spent all the Democratic Party money to defeat Diane Benson then abandoned the race, for instance, last time.
Watch C-SPAN than watch the cable and network talk shows, listen to talk radio, read the net and news papers then ask yourself – Do not members of congress behave exactly like the people who elected them?
We have a government of the party, by the party, for the party that consists of party elite elected by party members.
The government sucks and the root cause is not hard to locate – The two parties SUCK.
Read George Washington’s farewell address – he was correct in what political bigots and their political parties would do to America.
We have the same problem in Pennsylvania that you have in Alaska (think Santorum). Do we ever get to vote for someone who represents our State or even America? No! We get to vote for someone from our state who represents the Republican Party or the Democratic Party.
The bigots of American Politics have divided themselves and their party members into a dichotomy of lying, godless, Marxist, Socialist, liberal Democrats and hypocritical, evangelical, narcissistic, simple minded, conservative Republicans that absolutely loath each other. ~Both descriptions are from Fox Cable TV talk shows~
The only fix I see is for everyone to register Republican and then in the Republican primaries you vote against every Republican incumbent and in the general election you vote against every Republican incumbent or if there is no incumbent you vote for the other party.
In four election cycles we will have made the Republican party useless because no one will spend the money to re-elect incumbents and the money people who drive the system will not be sure they could get any Republican elected.
Once Americans have occupied and gained control of the Republican Party and made it useless we could go after the Democratic Party.
Once Americans have destroyed the national parties and made both the bigots who supported them and their party members voiceless and worthless we could form a different party for each State.
We would gain back States Rights because the people we would be voting for would be representing us and our state and not a national party and it would be nice to have between 10 and 20 candidates, each from different States, running in open primaries for President and Vice President.
Just a thought.
Dum Yung is rather rude!
I’ve heard Don Yong at this before and today it struck me most forcibly that he is a bully and that he uses his power to bully people. Why is he allowed to be disrespectful when those testifying are not? I’m tempted to write Dr. Brinkley a letter and thank him because it’s about time someone called Don Young out and told him who he really works for. Every time I’ve seen him interview someone he’s hateful and bullying and just plain old mean, regardless of the issue and whether he’s right/wrong on it.
Ginandtacos has a look at why we Alaskans will be stuck with Dum Yung until our redneck Republican transplants from Oklahoma die off:
http://www.ginandtacos.com/2011/11/21/the-authoritarian-personality/
Mo, I wish that were true. Unfortunately, they have been breeding like rabbits ever since they arrived in the mid 70s.
I was watching the first episode of Season Two of Flying Wild Alaska and was so embarrassed that one of the villages, Kivilina, had a five-year old power plant that was already difficult to manage and running at 20% capacity.
While I am glad for the new state-of-the-art facility, it riles me up that we don’t have the manpower to operate the place and that we are still wholly depended on fossil fuels for power generation. The village went two nights without power because the maintenance guy was out of town and the Frankenstein job the two remaining generators were putting was overly taxed.
I want to see alternative energy, smart energy and self-sufficiency out in the land where Don says we have no heart. People may look at North and Western Alaska and say there is nothing out there, but we beg to differ. It doesn’t mean I don’t want any development, but I want responsible and sustainable development.
I would correct someone saying my name wrong, Mr. Brinkley may have gone to Don’s level, but the Congressman was really being disrespectful, trying to set the tone for every Panelist to treat an invited witness that way. Kudos to Mr. Brinkley for defending himself.
When I go to city council meetings here, the mayor of this population 200K city messes up my name. I correct him (nswfm is hard to pronounce, I know) and say my 3 minutes of comments. He sits there and takes it, even though I’m on the other side of how he votes. It’s all on TV and I’ve had acquaintances come say to me in the market that they appreciated what I said because they saw me on TV at the city council meeting.
Grow up, Congressman Dung, ANWR IS for the nation, not just for lining your pocket.
ANWR has become the poster child of multiple Alaskan frustrations with the fed and Outside. Far too many have forgotten it is federal land and way too many buy the bs that it is barren as well as a shocking number which have no clue that there is a treaty with Canada as regards the Porcupine caribou calving grounds etc which are in the 1002 Area under consideration for oil extraction.
WAAAYYYYY to many just wave aside the concerns of the Gwich’in peoples of Alaska and Canada –
“Caribou is traditionally a major component of their diet. Many Gwichʼin people are dependent on the Porcupine caribou which herd calves on the coastal plain in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Gwichʼin people have been very active in protesting and lobbying against the possibility of oil drilling in ANWR, due to fears that oil drilling will deplete the population of the Porcupine Caribou herd which they rely on for nutritional and cultural needs. Gwich’in have also actively protested the development of oil in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, and a proposed land trade from the United States Wildlife Refuge system and Doyon Inc..”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwich%E2%80%99in
Don Young IS speaking to an audience which approves his message here- a singularly poorly educated, narrow minded message but one which resonates with the people who put him in office over and over.
He is acting like the federal thug he rails about here as well and should be shouted down from every corner of this country.
And ANWR should stay closed to oil extraction so the rest of you need to stay on your Congressfolk to keep it that way because it won’t be coming from here to save this area .
I am one of a pitifully few Alaskans who are very anti- oil extraction in ANWR. It’s a lonely spot I can tell you.
I’m one of those Lower 48ers, but I also hope ANWR stays wild and beautiful.
I’m with you, Pi, and you are right, it is a very lonely place. I am anti-drilling, anti-mining and anti-logging. I am pro eco-tourism and green energy. I am all about sustainable fisheries.
Young makes the point aht he has been at this battle to open ANWR for 39 years….Maybe it is time for him to review his postition.
Does ANWR really have enough oil to make the permanent loss of habitat, culture and wildlife worth the sacrifice?
Whatever the energy companies may claim, once significant damage is done to the landscape, the local people’s lives and the animal migration patterns, it will never be completely UNdone. It seems to me that the amount of oil should be massive in order to even consider destroying what can never be replaced. I don’t remember hearing that the quantities are that great to make the sacrifice worthwhile.
There is a lot of argument about the USGS estimates of recoverable oil and gas there . Supposedly a 50 % chance the Big Oil numbers are good… only 50% chance.
Also- read this carefully
See what Alaska is doing on it’s own adjacent lands…
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2011/2011-08-15-01.html
i watched that episode, too, isvfmy.
the generator issue was almost surreal…all those machines, no one to operate them.
I also saw that and it was/is a shame. It is a village of less than 100 people and they have to be committed to getting and keeping the operator well informed. It sounded like they had the third generator down for years due to a part. No way someone in Anchorage is going to know that IF the village govt/power authority is not asking for help.
A few things to possibly add some insight into villages and their power issues.
A number of AK agencies and even federal are attempting to update and get renewable energy into our villages. Some of the things they face, outside of money issues, is that most villages have outdate power systems when it comes to things like their wiring, lack of people to manage complex, or what so far has been complex, renewable energy systems and finally a group of people who are willing to learn even the most basics of their systems.
Without getting too technical there are issues like the power legs that are unbalanced and almost impossible to balance and keep balance, causing ANY system major issues. Usually this causes wasted fuel as the system must be run to the highest ‘leg’ and a bigger than needed generator has to do it. Most RE systems, and consultants who work with them, are working with systems designed with lower 48 types of usages, which villages do not have.
It is not so simple as just hooking up a windmill and thus they are good. What happens when the wind stops, there has to be another whole system to deal with the ups and downs of wind or solar.
There is also the issue that most commercial windmills stops producing power at ranges that would leave it not producing for considerable periods of time.
There is an effort to get systems figured out and adapted to Alaska but it takes time and consultants who understand, agencies who have a learning curve too and finally people/govt in the villages who learn about these issues and do no accept systems that would have never worked in their village. Many of the systems now installed ‘work’ but only when the tech from Anchorage is babysitting them.
Believe me there is much work being done to help but it will not be a fast fix with over 250+ villages, all pretty much all producing their own power and hooked up to no one else.
The power generator issue on the Flying Wild Alaska show is a very common one in rural Alaska. Please check out the web page for the Alaska Energy Authority (http://akenergyauthority.org/) This is a huge, complicated issue for rural Alaska – how to make energy affordable and available to all Alaskans.
And look at the Renewable Energy Alaska Project (REAP) http://alaskarenewableenergy.org/
There are areas in Alaska such as Kotzebu that are building alternative energy infrastructures and are making great progress.
I’ve been waiting for 15 years to see turbines turning on Fire Island in Cook Inlet off of Anchorage. Hopefully we’ll start seeing them go up in 2012.
Actually Kotz is having some major issues with their system. It is not widely known but a portion of the system fell totally on its butt and a new supplier was gained to replace the failed issue!! Hopefully with the replacement portion they will start to see the results they should.
Another village held up as an example, Kokhanok, where windmills were installed is having issues from its windmills to having to have a ‘babysitter’ from Anchorage to make it work correctly.
AEA and others are overall making a major effort to help our villages, it is just not an easy task or one that is going to happen quickly.
I think that Alaskans should feel ashamed that their only representative in the House is a complete and total idiot.
Methinks you are preaching to the choir, where most of the comments here seem to support your point that Young “is a complete and total idiot”… Shaming all Alaskans seems a bit much, though; aren’t they already suffering more than enough at his hands?
It’s like someone telling me that we Texans are ALL responsible for electing Rick Perry. Well, no, we are not….I vote against that Bible-thumping rwnj every chance I get…. as do millions of other Texans, but, still, we get out-voted.
So let’s not beat up on all Alaskans with feeling shame, okay? Where do YOU live? Is there any incumbent there that we should beat YOU up about?
Thanks Elsie – I typed and then read your reply – sorry to be a copycat!
I’m supposed to shame myself if I didn’t vote for him, and never have? Why? I always vote. I volunteer at campaigns. I donate to my choice of candidates whenever I can. Even if I did none of these things, I can’t feel shame about something I have no control over.
I’m embarrassed for my state due to the brainwashing he’s done for so many years to secure his seat. I’m embarrassed for him because he’s such a beanie ass. But I do not feel personal shame for his existence. Do you feel shame for every idiot politician your state or community votes in?
Words do matter. If you had said “embarrassed or horrified” instead of ashamed, t’would have been more realistic. And obviously, most if not all Alaskans participating on the ‘flats are horrified and embarrassed. The ones who aren’t do not visit here.
I’m so tired of this – we heard this over and over about Sarah Palin and now it’s everybody else, too? I’m tired of people who don’t know the state paint everything with a broad brush. I could do that for all 46 other states where I haven’t lived and worked, and I would most likely be at least 90 % wrong in most of my assumptions.
There are times that one should just count to ten before typing what is in one’s head.
As a non-Alaskan, I could be completely wrong about this, but I suspect that many Alaskans hold their nose and vote for him for exactly the same reason many people vote for other Congresscritters thet don’t really like…seniority. They feel pressured to reelect someone with years in the position because of the power and influence that goes along with that experience.
Of course, we’ve seen all the (negative) influence that the Tea Party freshman have had since 2010, and there likely reaches a point where, even if you hold your nose, the stink still permeates your nasal cavities. Hopefully, we’ve passed that point and people in many states will take a leap of faith and elect representatives who are NOT crazy, immoral, stoopid or otherwise reprehensible, even if they may be new to the game!
I am ashamed and have been for years. He has been in Congress too long and it is showing. Who the heck does he think he is anyway. If it weren’t for the few Alaskans who vote, he wouldn’t be there!
Why can’t politicians from Alaska realize that ANWR (Arctic NATIONAL Wildlife Refuge) is under federal control. It doesn’t matter if 100% of Alaskans want to develop the area. It is not Alaska’s to develop.
Even if we extract all the oil that is there, we will have to import vast amounts. As a nation, we have developed an insatiable appetite for oil, and we resist ways to break that addiction.
I couldn’t overlook the irony that Yon Dung calls Brinkley and “elitist” for camping in the refuge, while he admits that he’s traveled the area extensively. (most certainly at tax payer expense)
I watched the video several times and thought that the lady was reacting to Yong Dung’s bullying ways rather than Dr. Brinkley’s comments. Just my impression. Both the Chair & Dung proved themselves to be out & out bullies, typical of the GOPTP party & all their sycophants. No one can get a fair hearing from a committee lead by them.
If he’d been wearing the beanie in that video, with that 2nd still shot, I would have absolutely had to make it my desktop wallpaper. I might anyway – it’s flippin’ hysterical! Yeah, what he said! Take that Beanie brain!
Like creationism, Young’s continual re-election exceeds my mental capacity. Who is voting for him? Surely one of his supporters could tell me why is is worthy of representing Alaskans. Anybody?
I haven’t voted for him in years. He sold Western Alaska out with the Coast Guard rider to the Magnason-Stevens Act in 2006 – he pretty much gave the CDQ program to a handful of men. I wonder what he got in return and I wonder if we’ll ever find out.
Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Leenie @ 8.2
Well put. That is an interesting aspect of it is it not? The certainty is that for more than a century the government, that is to say us, has deemed it significant to set aside and preserve in so far as possible the natural state of some portions of this country because they are exceptional. Ironically, demagogic exceptionalists are avid to despoil and pillage those very assets so carefully sequestered from the whoredom of capitalism. There are many other even greater ironies but I will not enumerate them, I leave that to others.
Alaska Pi @ 13.2
All well and good, but in the final analysis, what does the phrase that I put at the head of this comment actually mean? Is it even possible for the government, under the constitution to impose rules that constrain or proscribe the expression of redress of grievances before the elected members of the government? In the present example we have a fundamental problem of perception that is difficult to understand. On the one hand we have the example of Rep. Weiner being embrassed out of office because his libido is apparently vigorous, on the other hand we have this almost certainly corrupt high schoool graduate mentality bully who is as tenacious in his position as a barnacle on a rock, does anyone else see there is something wrong with this picture? There is no doubt in my mind at all that Yon Dung has boneyards of skeletons in his closet. Yet the honest, decent and reflective people who work to constructively move our society forward, do not have a dedicated apparatus in place whose sole purpose is to smear and defame.
One wonders if this is a general distinction between those who would dictate as against those who would negotiate workable compromise.
Republicans for the most part manifest a desire to RULE. (please forgive the emphasis). Democrats to the constrast generally seem to prefer to govern. Resort to a dictionary may be essential for the deluded. Not that it will do any good.
One last thought that pops up. Does anyone see any irony in the upside down application of the employer/employee relationship that is represented here. In the context of corporations, cartels, conglomerates, monopolies and any other form of dictatorship, the employer can abuse the employee in almost any way they choose. The ultimate insult being, you’re fired. But in the government model, once one of the almighty wheeler dealers is ensconced in a position, it takes
an expensive, long and elaborate process to call them to account.
I only ask, isn’t there something out of proportion here? Sure it is important that people in positions of power have some stability, but is it not also important that the millions of people whose labor and dedication to good performance and productivity have some assurance of security as well?
If we want a just society, we are going to have to take control away from the plutocracy. There may be many ways to do this which would work, but history tends to imply that it will not be easy.
Yon Dung is up for election again next year, that is Alaska’s problem.
If I was Brinkley, I would have gotten up and walked out.
KN- I was making a narrow argument to Mr Benner that the rules provide that witnesses provide beforehand information which Rep Young should have taken the time to master before shooting his mouth off. If Mr Benner wants to keep the view that the only thing important here is that order was restored, I am making the argument that the disorderly one is our obnoxious Representative who hides behind Congressional privilege while grandstanding and insulting the historian.
Nowhere is it mentioned whether Dr Brinkley was an invited witness or made a request to be a witness. In the end it doesn’t matter – he was treated like dirt in a Congressional hearing which is entirely unacceptable. In many ways the Watergate conspirators were treated better in hearings than he was and that BP twit was treated waaayyy better after the spill.
I do not mourn the loss of Weiner and I wait for the day the Don Young’s are out of office, especially our one and only. I hope I live that long.
I have less faith in the Democratic party , my party, than I ever have had as regards what they stand for. The squabbling over the tiny patch of ideology that exists between the Centrist Dems and the neoliberal Reps is tearing this country apart and the notion that Centrists have that they have an answer to neoliberal economic policies is looking more and more like a fairytale to me.
The real answer to neoliberal economics is to dump it, not marry it.
As regards govt of, by, and for the people – I’m too cranky to go there lately. I’m having some kind of allergic reaction to too many of the “people” lately.
As usual, well- reasoned comments. I absolutely noticed the “who pays your salary, Congressman” Dung, sentiment, and as a taxpayer NOT from Alaska, I really can’t stand His Royal Dung Leechness. That’s as much as I can say in polite company.
Well, we are usually polite here. It’s too bad some of the Congressmen, like Young and a few dozen others, can’t remember the manners that I’m sure their mothers or some teacher taught them. Maybe we should send all of them back to school for that lesson and the history classes they obviously skipped.
I heard somewhere that Don Young started out as a teacher in Alaska sometime way back in the 70’s.
His face is a perfect representation of the entire conservative/republican population…full of miserable hate and hot air.
Too bad the Dr didn’t call him by my favorite name, Yon Dung.
He should have corrected the chairman as well. It’s Dr. Brinkley, not Mr.
Thank goodness that Alaska is only permitted ONE Representativein Congress….can you imagine a whole gaggle of Alaskan Representatives of this ilk ???
Ha. I have a friend who feels that, rather than being separate states with large areas and small populations, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming (perhaps with the addition of Idaho) should all be one state, and that this combined state should have only the representation its small human population would call for. Thinking along those lines, why not throw in Nebraska? The combined populations of all six states combined is still only about a third of that of the state of New York.
Of course, I love these states geographically. If they were all one state, much of it would be national park. The people who live there would not appreciate losing their Senators, and I can’t blame them. I just wish they’d appreciate that they get to graze their cattle on federal lands (that we pay for!), and leave the wolves alone.
Alaskans, they don’t even get a PFD. That little bit of socialism is yours alone.
It’s not socialism- it’s socially acceptable neoliberal hoobobby in the form of “ownership society”
🙂
That makes no sense whatsoever to me. Representation is a balance of numbers / population, but also includes the livelihoods, resources, tax structure, laws, cultural influences/traditions, and much more. They could end up with one idiot Congressional Rep and one idiot Congressional Senator for all those people spread out over a huge geographical area (often fighting amongst themselves for what is deemed most important in what areas) and it doesn’t work very well. Ask Alaskans how well that works.
I’m just the messenger. The idea was my friend’s, not mine. I could not imagine all those folks getting along, let alone agreeing. And no Senator or Representative wants to lose his/her job.
“the chairman of the committee reprimanded Brinkley and tried to gavel things back to order, telling him if he wanted to continue to be present he would follow the rules”
Nuff said…
One of the rules being,
“A congressfool can insult you to your face and you can’t protest. Neener neener!”
??
The rules which the Committee lives by include a prefile of pertinent info including the witness’ name and occupation as well as proposed testimony.
Our Rep insulted this witness right out of the box and ramped up from there. The man was not there under subpeona and should not have been there for our Rep to spit on.
Now- did our Rep do his own homework and read the prefile which includes the man’s name? Or did he just come out swinging on some half- a$$ed notes made by a staffer who read the prefile? Either way he looks ill prepared, boorish , and not fit for the title of Representative for Alaska .
While the Chair may be empowered to deal with unruly or disruptive witnesses it is a sorry sight to see the witness treated so poorly by OUR Rep as to be put in a position of snapping back.
Rep Young is more and more like a the federal thug he rails about keeping out of Alaska.
He’s not witty, he’s not well informed- he’s bombastic, crude and verging on disgusting.
“RULE 4. HEARING PROCEDURES
(a) Written Statement; Oral Testimony.—Each witness who is to appear before the Committee or a Subcommittee shall file with the Chief Legislative Clerk of the Committee or Subcommittee Clerk, at least two working days before the day of his or her appearance, a written statement of their proposed testimony. Each witness shall limit his or her oral presentation to a five-minute summary of the written statement, unless the Chairman, in consultation with the Ranking Minority Member, extends this time period. In addition, all witnesses shall be required to submit with their testimony a resume or other statement describing their education, employment, professional affiliations and other background information pertinent to their testimony. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the exclusion of the written testimony from the hearing record and/or the barring of an oral presentation of the testimony. ”
http://naturalresources.house.gov/About/Rules.htm
Don Young is not “verging on disgusting.”, in this case he behaved extremely “disgusting.”!!
Just for curiosity’s sake, I wonder how the Gwitchin people in Ft. Yukon feel about drilling in ANWR? As the caribou calving ground, they probably are pretty protective.
This jerk and a former Governor of the state of Alaska who could not think of a supreme court decision that she did not agree with- only a few months after the Exxon decision, should confirm the belief that alaskans are all idiots. Why don’t they just forget about us and let us fade away into the woodwork. We’ve had enough now.
People have never been willing to listen to what Palin didn’t say about that and believe she meant not to say it. As Miss Alaska, the grumpy grifter was free to disagree and criticize the SCOTUS decision to boost their Exxon stock, but remember, she and McCain had just met with Big Oil down in Texas and she had just become papa John’s official oil whore, aka, Miss Drill, Baby, Drill. As stupid as she is, I don’t believe she would have criticized the SCOTUS oil-friendly decision even on the outside chance she actually remembered it.
Moose Pucky would not sell out the caribou cousins in ANWR for a bigger PFD!
Two books to read:
“Two in the Far North” by Margaret Murie
“Midnight Wilderness” by Debbie Miller
Foo Pas
Well done perfessor! Our crooked, lowlife politicians don’t get nearly enough lack of respect!
What timing – after just having watched , “Before There Were Parks”, the “Yellowstone & Glacier Through Native Eyes” segment , a look at how the different tribes of the area see the spirit wealth of the area and views on why it should be preserved. What a juxtapose!
( by the by – is it Dr. David Brinkley or Douglas ? Both names are used )
Absolutely love love the photo of the reaction to “You don’t own me. ” Priceless.
Douglas. That’s what’s known, according to Doc Hastings as a “foo pah”. Many apologies.
And for goodness sake, please don’t tell Brinkley I screwed up his name!
(Hides under desk)
😉
But David Brinkley was a pretty decent news person, as I recall. Age revealing moment.
Yeah, cuz Dr. “Rice” gets really stuck on that name thing. Apparently it was a sore point. 🙂
Saw Ron Paul on ‘Face the Nation’ today. He wants to get rid of the Dept of the Interior, among other federal agencies. Bob Schieffer asked him what he planned to do with the national parks if he got rid of the Agency that runs them. He said that a lot of the land could be sold off because ‘the money isn’t there’ in the federal government. He didn’t specify how much he planned to sell or what was supposed to be done with the rest of it.
Sure, just sell off Yellowstone to the highest bidder. I can just see it…high-price health spas built over Old Faithful and Mammoth Hot Springs. Maybe develop a nice casino on the edge of the Grand Canyon. And let’s cut down all those trees in Sequoia…lots of money to be made in lumber! And why don’t we build a power plant over Yosemite Falls…harness some of that water that’s just being wasted now. Maybe melt down what’s left in Glacier National Park and sell it in fancy plastic bottles. Oy, I have a headache!
I just can’t figure out which candidate frightens me the most.
leenie – you should send those ideas over to Ron Paul. Great money makers. We’d be out of debt in no time !
Sadly, I can actually see the high-price health spas being built over Old Faithful and it makes me sort of queasy.
As I’ve said before, I just keep waiting for Ashton Kutcher to call a press conference where he’ll step forward with that playful smirk on his face and announce, “America ! You’ve been PUNKED!!!” , after which all of the GOP candidates will come on stage, arms locked together, and give a great big bow, smiling from ear to ear.
That’s gotta be it….right ?
Leenie, I am so with you! The crazy s – – – – that comes out of the repub candidates simply blows my mind! I have to wonder: Has Ron Paul ever been to a national park? Does he have any idea why national parks were formed? It is simply beyond my imagination that such a person is running for office.
Well, we know what he is, but I’m a tad curious whether that “look” on the staffer’s face is because she doesn’t like what Brinkley said or because she has just realized she is working for a fool. If I were her, I’d start looking for another job, unless she actually agrees with Young.
Can’t tell if that look of hers says she’s NEVER heard ANYONE talk to Young like that, or if that look says she works for someone known to kick the dog.
What a rude crotchety old man he is! Get him his Phillip’s milk of magnesia STAT!
LOVE the look on that staffer’s face! Priceless!!
Me too!
It makes me giggle. Wonder what’s going through her head.
She’s thinking, “Oh, crap!” and busily thinking of ways to become invisible and not catch the fallout that Dungus is sure to spew in all directions. Sucks to be an intern.
Also, is that another “party planner” in the background? She obviously has swallowed the kool-aid.
I love this. Brinkley is awesome.
Good grief. Why doesn’t our mouth breather representative just collect his retirement and slip off into the muck from which he emerged. I am losing all patience with my fellow Alaskans! Why does this man continue to represent us? The embarrassment is beyond the pale.
Totally agree. Not only an embarrassment for Alaskans but for the nation as well
Another embarrassment to Alaska! It’s way past time that he is not elected again!!